Random Rant: Why do post offices only operate in between normal working hours?

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CLKeenan

Banned
Jun 24, 2006
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Boston, MA
So all the post offices around me open after 9am and close at either 4 or 5pm. How does that make any sense? Unless I am free during lunch, I can never make it to the post office until the weekend. What gives?
 


Government monopoly. No competition, no focus on customer service. It's really as simple as that.
 
Hell, they can still work the same hours but why not have one in the area open at 7 and close at 3 and one open at 10 and close at 6? That way you've got the morning, lunch, and after work crowd covered.
 
because they dont' give a shit. They want us to waste our whole day standing in their lines, waiting to get to a counter that has 10 workstations with only 1 worker, while meanwhile their stamp machine is out of order in the lobby.
 
Yup, I was thinking about this while ago.

Sad, people here waste literally entire day jumping from post offices to another government office, get one paper, stand in the line wait for it to get stamped, then go buy approval stamps there, get back, get that paper signed, then wait, and after you wait you come back for approval paper and then you're set for 2-3 days until the next task is set upon you.

The system is one son of a biscuit.
 
Thanks to online banking/bill pay and e-mail I haven't stepped inside a post office in about 8 years but if I ever do need to send something via snail mail I'd go through fedex @ kinkos. It's like $3 for a letter, $8 - $12 for a package which isn't much more than what the post office charges and at my nearest kinkos they can accept stuff 24/7.
 
It's not so bad when you get there and are #10 in line, it's when you are #3 or 4 in line that you have to watch out for, because it is always something like this:

#1 - Someone who urgently needs to mail some shit, and speaks every language except English.
#2 - Some asshole who is too busy talking on the phone to tell the clerk what he needs.
#3 - Someone who buys a book of stamps with a bag full of nickels.
#4 - Someone with something in an open box and doesn't know where the fuck it's supposed to go and how it is supposed to get there- not to mention whether or not it should be Delivery Confirmation or Signature Confirmation.





# you.
 
Just got back from my local office - its the main one in our district.

15 "kiosks"
1 worker
10 senior citizens in front of me

Nuff' said
 
Everybody that complains on this thread - you want to attempt to take a (severely short-changed) government budget and try to allot it accordingly to over 10,000 offices throughout the entire nation and still try to make everybody happy? The fact is, despite the obvious shortcomings (and there are many), the government does the best job possible with the budget they are given through tax receipts. Many people complain about the inefficiencies of govt, but there is no organization in the entire WORLD that is larger, and yes there will be some waste but when you think about it. . .paying less than a half dollar to get your letter from Hawai'i to Maine is pretty damn impressive. Same with shipping a package for 15 bucks coast-to-coast.

Does it suck waiting in line? Yes.
Are the employees at the USPS below average in intelligence? Generally.

However, it definitely driving cross-country to have something delivered in a week. . .


Ev
 
Everybody that complains on this thread - you want to attempt to take a (severely short-changed) government budget and try to allot it accordingly to over 10,000 offices throughout the entire nation and still try to make everybody happy? The fact is, despite the obvious shortcomings (and there are many), the government does the best job possible with the budget they are given through tax receipts. Many people complain about the inefficiencies of govt, but there is no organization in the entire WORLD that is larger, and yes there will be some waste but when you think about it. . .paying less than a half dollar to get your letter from Hawai'i to Maine is pretty damn impressive. Same with shipping a package for 15 bucks coast-to-coast.

Does it suck waiting in line? Yes.
Are the employees at the USPS below average in intelligence? Generally.

However, it definitely driving cross-country to have something delivered in a week. . .


Ev

You do realize that the postal service is an independent agency? The only funding they receive is to support programs like postage-free mailing for all legally blind persons and for mail-in election ballots sent from US citizens living overseas? They are supposed to be a break-even corporation, yet they make over a billion dollars a year in profit and continue to raise their rates every year it seems?

Think about how many envelopes can fit in a giant 18 wheeler truck and then multiply that by .42 (.44 in May)...
 
Everybody that complains on this thread - you want to attempt to take a (severely short-changed) government budget
Short changed budget? Governments spend without limit.

Also, the free market is the best method to allocate scarce resources through competition. The problem is that the USPS has no competition, and thus has no incentive to increase their efficiency.

Remove the monopoly, and they will improve or someone better will replace them.
 
Just another reason why I've never really had a "real" job. Could never deal with the idea of wasting all day Saturday running around like a hamster on a wheel going to the post office, bank, and grocery store. I do stuff , like, at 9am Monday morning or 2pm on a Thursday when nobody is around and there are no lines.

God save the poor bastards trying to access their mail where I live. I saw a woman the other day who had just moved to the neighborhood (bought one of the multimillion dollar homes in this area) and was looking pretty pissed off when the postal clerk told her that, basically, she was never going to see her mail because of their podunk country store hours out here.
 
What makes no sense is 9-5 are the busiest hours for businesses because thats when everyone is shopping and running their errands and since 9-5 is the busiest than thats when everyone has to work..it makes my head spin.
 
Everybody that complains on this thread - you want to attempt to take a (severely short-changed) government budget and try to allot it accordingly to over 10,000 offices throughout the entire nation and still try to make everybody happy? The fact is, despite the obvious shortcomings (and there are many), the government does the best job possible with the budget they are given through tax receipts. Many people complain about the inefficiencies of govt, but there is no organization in the entire WORLD that is larger, and yes there will be some waste but when you think about it. . .paying less than a half dollar to get your letter from Hawai'i to Maine is pretty damn impressive. Same with shipping a package for 15 bucks coast-to-coast.

Does it suck waiting in line? Yes.
Are the employees at the USPS below average in intelligence? Generally.

However, it definitely driving cross-country to have something delivered in a week. . .


Ev

Why do you act like you know everything? I have seen some intelligent posts from you.. but the majority you sound stuck up and stupid as shit.
 
They are supposed to be a break-even corporation, yet they make over a billion dollars a year in profit and continue to raise their rates every year it seems?

Huh? U.S. Postal Service recorded a loss of $2.8 billion last year due to a major decline in mail volume (first-class mail is down almost 25% over the last decade)

They also have debt balance of $7.2 Billion. The postmaster general has even proposed cutting mail delivery from 6 days a week to 5 to save money.
 
Huh? U.S. Postal Service recorded a loss of $2.8 billion last year due to a major decline in mail volume (first-class mail is down almost 25% over the last decade)

They also have debt balance of $7.2 Billion. The postmaster general has even proposed cutting mail delivery from 6 days a week to 5 to save money.

I knew I shouldn't have trust about.com hahaha
 
Ive often wondered the same about service oriented businesses like doctors. They are open during regular business hours. Unless someone were to take off work, they cant go.
 
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